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Citizen Dang
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It has now become almost impossible to remove these encroachments in Putlighar area. Several attempts in the past have failed miserably because of lack of political and administrative will.
MC plays ‘Pied Piper’ to rats in walled city
Traders up in arms against VAT, service tax
Government to encourage exports through internet portal
Mass suicides a pointer towards dysfunctional social system: Experts
Ms Ratna, the newly appointed Chairperson of the PSSWB, has already initiated four mega projects under STEP to be started at Ajnala (Amritsar)
Weekly Round-up
A Bihu performance in progress
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Some people stand taller than their ideals. And yet they are unassuming to the core. Even those who subscribe to a different ideology cannot help appreciating their very sound values and principled stand. This is just-true in case of the veteran CPI leaders — Mr Satyapal Dang, and his wife, Ms Vimla Dang. They have been a legend in their lifetime. They have fought for the toiling people and taken a principled stand against militancy in Punjab. They have the distinction of being the only couple in the country to have received two President awards — Padma Vibhushan and Padma Shri, respectively.
The couple had fought many relentless battles for the just cause of the downtrodden in their 65-year-long social lifespan. The simple and austere lifestyle of the “political faqirs”, who had stint as MLAs (Mr Dang also remained minister, having important portfolios), presidents of Municipal Committee, Chheharta (both were elected MC presidents from time to time), may spring a surprise on the new breed of politicians. The total cost of belongings in their one small-room flat (the upper storey of Ekta Bhavan) is less than Rs 5000 (this excludes the ancestral property). Though Mr Dang had got his share of ancestral property, yet he did not save even a single penny from his personal earnings. A small table, four chairs, two beds and a few utensils made of steel sum up the simple living of the legendary couple. They don’t have bone china plates or costly glass sets in the house, lest they should be broken. Though the couple lead ‘underground’ life during the British rule and were entitled to Freedom Fighters’ Pension, they never claimed the same till date. Out of the total pension of Rs 21,000 (Mr Dang receives Rs 13000 and Ms Dang gets Rs 8000 per month as MLA pension), they keep Rs 2000 each for which they are entitled as whole-time party CPI workers, while the rest of their income goes to the party coffers. The royalty of the books, authored by Mr Dang, too, goes to the party. In the words of Khushwant Singh, “Satyapal Dang and his wife Vimla Dang, nee Bakaya (the sub-caste of Ms Dang), lived in Chheharta, a suburban township near Amritsar, in the heat of the terrorism let loose by Bhindranwale supporters and protagonists of Khalistan. Not only did the Dangs refuse to seek sanctuary elsewhere, they made Chheharta an island of peace when most of the state was in turmoil”. The couple shifted to Chheharta from Mumbai in 1952 after their dowry-free court marriage. Before that they had never been to this township of Amritsar. Mr Dang says that instead of working as secretary of the party in Mumbai, he preferred to work for the uplift of working class. Mr Dang was elected the first president of the Chheharta Municipal Committee. He occupied the post for 14 years (1953-1967). Later, Ms Dang, too, was elected president of the Municipal Committee for a term. Mr Dang attracted national attention when he defeated Gurmukh Singh Musafir, Congress Chief Minister of the state and won the assembly election with a convincing margin in 1967. He held the Amritsar West seat till 1980 and served as a minister in a non-Congress government too. Though he lost the assembly seat to Sewa Ram Arora of Congress in 1980, Ms Dang won back the seat for CPI in the 1992 elections. During his tenure as minister, Mr Dang did not opt for official bungalow; instead he lived in MLAs’ Flats. Most of the time, Ms Dang would spend her time in one-room flat in Chheharta, meeting people. Mr Dang, as minister, loved to paddle thorough his constituency on his cycle. The communist couple has set a rare example of voluntary retirement from active politics. Some years ago, both retired from the National Council of the CPI, and in 1997, they declined to contest the assembly elections on the genuine plea that there must be an age-limit for holding political office. During their student-days’ struggle in Lahore in early forties of the last century, Satyapal Dang fell in love with Ms Dang (she was Vimla Bakaya before marriage) and married her after the Partition. He met Vimla Bakaya when both were active in the Lahore Students’ Union, before the Partition. While Mr Dang was a product of Government College (Lahore), Ms Dang was a student of the Kinnard College for Women in the same city. Both were senior leaders of All-India Students’ Federation. Both communist party leaders took active part in pre-Independence student movement. Mr Dang was also elected a Vice-President of the World Youth Federation. In 1943, both of them went to Bengal to campaign for aid to victims of the Great Famine of the year, which claimed over three million lives. Interestingly, Mr Dang belonged to Ram Nagar village (it was called Rasoolpur due to it being Muslim dominated), district Gujranwala (now in Pakistan), while Ms Dang belonged to a Kashmiri Pandit family. Later, Mr Dang was elevated to the post of general secretary of the federation in 1945, and he shifted to Mumbai — the headquarters of the party. They got married in Mumbai in 1952 after Ms Vimla Dang returned from Prague, where she represented India in the International Union of Students. It was a ‘Civil Marriage’ (court marriage), arranged with the consent of both the progressive-thinking families. Mr Dang says that it was conscious decision of both of them not to go for a child. They did not want to divert their attention from the people’s struggle. “We don’t repent our decision, taken in the year 1952.” Ms Dang, being a senior functionary of the Punjab Istri Sabha, took up the cause of women’s emancipation and 33 per cent reservation for women. Her struggle for equal rights for women did not include anti-male approach. She was honoured with Padma Shri in 1998 for her contribution to the social sphere. The then-Deputy-Commissioner, Mr Sarbjit Singh, in his recommendation had mentioned that Ms Dang had raised huge funds during the Bengal famine in 1945 and personally visited the affected families. The contribution of Ms Dang in the social field was rated as unparalleled. The Dang couple has the honour of holding personal meetings with Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Mahatma Gandhi and other top leadership of the world. Remembering a memorable meeting with the “Father of the Nation”, Mr Dang says, “When I asked him (Gandhi) for his blessings, he quipped — ‘I bless whatever good you may have done’. Mahatma Gandhi was careful about the choice of words, as he did not want to praise the delegation of the Communist Party.” Mr Dang says the younger generation should not join politics with an eye to mint money. They should join politics to serve the nation, and they should fight for cleaning the political system. |
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The uprising of the sailors of the British Indian Navy in 1946 was one of the most spectacular episodes of the intense revolt against the British Raj. On February 18, the sailors and the shipmen of the British Indian Navy battleship HMS Talwaar, who were at the time posted at the Mumbai (Bombay then) Harbour, went on strike. They took over the naval trucks, boarded them, hoisted red flags on them and started patrolling the city of Mumbai. As a result, anti-British imperialist sentiments started to spread like wildfire throughout the region. Mr Dang says the rebellion made the British realise that they could not rule India any longer. The union jacks on most of the ships of the Royal Indian Navy in the Mumbai Harbour were torn down and the rebel sailors hoisted red flags along with the flags of the political parties that were involved in the freedom struggle. Within two days, the British imperialists were faced with the largest revolt ever of their naval units. The message of this rebellion started to spread by word of mouth, and then over the radio (the radio station had been taken over by the rebels) to military garrisons and barracks across India. Some of the leaders of the sailors broadcast the message of the uprising, and revolutionary songs and poetry were also broadcast round-the-clock. The revolt spread to 74 ships, 20 fleets and 22 units of the Navy along the coast. It involved Mumbai, Kolkata (Calcutta then), Karachi, Chennai (Madras then), Cochin. |
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Political interference, govt apathy turns Putlighar into encroachers’ paradise
Putlighar and its adjoining areas like Islamabad and Gwal Mandi on the GT Road, which leads to international Wagah joint check post, has emerged as encroachers' paradise. All this is thanks to the political patronage and the apathy of departments concerned, whose promises to develop the holy city as the model city remain unfulfilled.
It has now become almost impossible to remove these encroachments. While the road from the Putlighar Chowk to the Gawal Mandi and the cantonment area have already been encroached upon by shopkeepers, leaving little space for pedestrians and smooth passage of vehicles, still more encroachments are being
done.
The shopkeepers extend their shops and encroach upon the footpaths. The unorganised parking lot adds to the woes of the pedestrians. The international Amritsar-Lahore Road (GT Road) at this chowk is encroached upon by vegetable sellers, pull carts and readymade garment sellers. This leads to frequent traffic jam and brawls. The councillor of the area has also allegedly encroached upon the road by putting up stands to display garments. The police, despite a few attempts, failed to remove these encroachments. A police official was allegedly beaten up by the councillor, his son and several other shopkeepers, when the former reportedly asked them to remove the encroachments on the Putlighar-Islamabad Road that also leads to the historical Pipli Sahib Gurdwara. However, the councillor refuted the allegations. He counter alleged that the police official had beaten up several shopkeepers. The police had booked and arrested the councillor and his son in this regard. However, they were released the same evening allegedly due to political pressure. An inquiry conducted by an IPS officer indicted the councillor and his son for assaulting the police officer. But further action is still awaited. Devotees visiting the gurdwara often complain about the problems being faced by them due to traffic jams. Besides traffic chaos, these encroachments have also become a source of garbage. Vegetable vendors throw vegetable waste on the main GT Road. Often, stray animals block the road while eating this waste. This leads to accidents many times. The municipal corporation and other department concerned are also blamed for this, as they fail to take timely action. Political affiliations and interference make the task even more difficult. On the other hand, kiosk owners allege high-handedness by the corporation. They claim that the demolition notices were served by the corporation despite the fact that it was taking a rent of Rs 60 per month as 'teh-bazari' from them, which establishes "recognition" of their kiosks. They also allege that some vested interests are misinforming authorities.
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MC plays ‘Pied Piper’ to rats in walled city
The municipal corporation here has finally woken up to the alarming rise in rat population in the holy city. It was found that sewerage in the walled city was in a precarious condition owing to digging by rodents.
The walled city's residents, including Ms Laxmi Kanta Chawla, BJP State Vice-President, and other councillors had often brought the menace created by the rats to the notice of the corporation. Despite several attempts in the recent past to control the population of the rats, there had been little success. Several residents, taking the plea of certain religious sentiments, had been instrumental in shelving the earlier rodent-control attempts. Setting aside all such objections, the corporation has now garnered the services of Uttar-Pardesh-based company "Ocean Pest Control" for the task. The drive against the rodents would include initially installing 100 cages in the demarcated area. The areas identified are Namak Mandi, Tunda Talab and Majith Mandi. Municipal Corporation Commissioner, Mr K.S. Kang, stated that the company had a record in cleaning the Mughal Sarai Railway Station in Bihar - the biggest rail junction, and a milk plant in Varanasi. An initial budget of Rs 2.55 lakh was earmarked. The corporation would pay at the cost of Rs 8. 50 per dead rat. The company would also use fumigation, traps and medication to eliminate the rats. A team of eight persons of the sewerage department of the corporation had made an initial survey and found the sewerage in a perilous condition. The rats had dug up at many crucial points that led to seepage and contamination of water supply. In addition to this, the rats had also dug up foundations of old houses, making them risky. Mr Kang stated that reports of several children being bitten by the rats had also been received. The rats played havoc with eatables, clothes and documents, according residents of these areas. Meanwhile, the company has started conducting a survey of the habits and the mobility of the rats in the specified areas. About 30,000 rats have been estimated to be present in the area. After the initial phase of clearing these infested areas, the corporation would set its target near religious places. Experts believe that such steps are necessary to combat any plague threat. |
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Traders up in arms against VAT, service tax
Even though the Central and the state governments have given a go-ahead to implement the value added tax system (VAT) to be implemented from April 1 this year, traders have raised many pertinent questions about VAT and have given a call for Bharat Bandh on February 21, 2005.
The traders have claimed that with the implementation of VAT and service tax, the prices would go up by a minimum of 7-10 per cent and it would cripple the trade and industry in the coming days. Raising their voice against VAT, the traders alleged that the government was bringing this law under pressure from developed nations, as the Indian trade and industry were not fully equipped to absorb and built systems for VAT. Justifying their fear, the Beopar Mandal throughout the country, stated that the majority of the country people were illiterate and would not be able to take up paperwork involved in VAT system and would end up paying more taxes vis-ŕ-vis the organised sector. Expressing their dismay over the imposition of service tax, Mr Amrit Lal Jain, President, Punjab Pradesh Beopar Mandal (PPBM), said this high rate of tax would also add to the woes of small traders, who would not be able to bear the burden. Mr Jain said that imposition of VAT actually meant that taxes like excise and Cenvat, sales tax, central sales tax, octroi, purchase tax, entry tax and market fee merged into a single vat regime. But the Indian VAT meant these taxes would remain in force and simply the name of the sales tax would be changed into VAT and its rate of tax would be increased from present eight per cent to 12.5 per cent in a multiple tax system which was not acceptable to the traders. He claimed that the economic and social committee appointed by the European Commission had dubbed this system a failure. He said the UPA Government itself had committed in its common minimum programme to the implementation of National VAT instead of state VAT. He added this system was not fit for less developed countries like India. He claimed that the state VAT system would be disastrous for Punjab, which was already importing raw material from other parts of the country. The beopar mandal, while detailing their protest programme, said that the traders would organise 'funeral' procession of VAT and service tax on February 21 during Bharat Bandh, besides organising public meetings and educating general public. Mr Jain said a trade meet would be held at the Talkatora Stadium in New Delhi on March 9, in which traders from all over the country would participate. If the Central and the state government do not withdraw VAT and service tax on goods freight, the entire trade in India would remain closed from March 30th to April 1, the mandal president added. |
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Government to encourage exports through
In view of the opening up of the world trade this year, the Government of India, through public and private sector participation, has decided to launch a business internet portal for small-scale business segment to assess the world market for exports.
The president of the professional services providers, Mr J.P.S. Kohli, has been engaged by the government to enlist the support of business community to meet the global market challenges to improve the export performances of all states in the country. Addressing a group of businessmen here, Mr Kohli said it was extremely important to be a partner in the international trade. The businessmen could take full advantage of the internet service available to them, he added. Giving details of the project, Mr Kohli said they had tied up with the Universal Directory and Discovery Integrated, which had launched a global network with the listing of 15 lakh corporate houses and multinational corporation throughout the world. This would be available to the Indian businessmen. He said it would be for the first time that the Indian businessmen would be able to procure business through these portals by enlisting themselves free of cost. He, however, added that in case the Indian businessmen wished to put their entire product range and catalogues on the portal, nominal charges were required to be paid for services provided by the universal directory. He claimed it was a good opportunity to become a part of 'outsourcing', without actually going abroad. |
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Mass suicides a pointer towards dysfunctional social system: Experts
"Five of family commit suicide", "Doctor pushes family to commit suicide", "Six of family commit suicide", "Women tries to kill children, self" - these are not just headlines of newspapers, but also pointers towards a disturbing trend of mass suicides. Of late, suicides are being committed by whole families for one or the other reason.
According to experts, this trend shows that the inbuilt protection offered by our social system has collapsed. And failure to get timely justice exacerbates the problem. Mass suicide is an alarming situation that has triggered debate in intellectual circles. The kind of pressure that one Hardeep Singh of the local Chowk Mohni area faced on account of blackmailing by not only his relatives but also some senior police officials is not difficult to imagine. Hardeep Singh had inadvertently killed his father, who is alleged to have molested his wife. He found himself desperately helpless in fulfilling the demands of his aggressors. His helplessness emanated from blackmailing by his sister, brother-in-law and other relatives following the unintentional murder of his father, Sundar Singh, by him. When Hardeep Singh approached police to surrender, he was again blackmailed by a police official who allegedly sought bribe to close the case. Pressurised to give lakhs of rupees demanded by police and relatives, he, along with his family, preferred to commit suicide. Sadly, till now, no punitive action has been taken against the allegedly accused police official. In a recent incident, Naresh Kumar of Rajdhan village, along with his family, including two children and wife, committed suicide. What made this incident more gruesome was that Naresh was blackmailed by a quack who also forced Naresh to send his wife to him for physical relations. In both these incidents, the victims scribbled their tales of woes on the walls of their houses in their last bid to get justice after their death. The experts analyse that these incidents are due to moral degradation, erosion of values, materialism, corruption and failure to deal with consequent pressures. Dr M.S. Gill, Head of the Department of Sociology, said that in the present scenario the demands and aspirations of people had increased. "Thanks to the wide sweep of the electronic media (that shows all sorts of programmes) and also the degradation of moral and social values, people have lost their traditional moorings that gave them strength of purpose and courage. Nuclear families have further aggravated the problem. People have also become short tempered and their tolerance level has decreased markedly," he explained. Dr B.L. Goel, a psychiatrist, added that the circumstances of the individual and the family played a great role in such cluster suicide cases. |
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State Social Welfare Board gears up for women employment
More than 20,000 women are expected to become economically self-dependent, as the Punjab State Social Welfare Board (PSSWB) has embarked upon several ambitious schemes this year for assistance to women.
The schemes for the uplift of women and children have been envisaged to significantly alter their lives and make them self-reliant. A very ambitious plan (STEP) has been devised to give support to training and employment of women. The aim of the scheme is to mobilise women into small viable groups and provide skills, which would enable the groups to undertake employment-cum-income generation programmes. Ms Ratna, the newly appointed Chairperson of the PSSWB, has already initiated four mega projects under STEP to be started at Ajnala (Amritsar). These include setting up of training project for dari-manufacturing, which would provide self-employment scheme to over 2000 women. The women would not only be provided training but would also be given support services and marketing assistance. She said that 50 per cent of the project cost would be borne by the state government, while the rest of the amount would be provided by the Central Social Welfare Board under the Central government. The women would be provided monthly stipends also. Another major project, with the layout of Rs 76 lakh for the manufacture of leather goods and other items, had been planned at Jalandhar where the infrastructure for leather industry already existed. Ms Ratna added that she planned to revive the village carpet weaving projects at Rajasansi. She said that the project about carpet and dari-manufacturing had been planned in the cluster of villages in the border belt here. Another project about providing milk to the Verka Milk Plant had already been initiated in the Verka constituency of the city, where more than 2000 women were expected to participate in the cooperative milk supply scheme, she added. The PSSWB has already sent schemes for five computer training centres to provide training to 60 girls in the districts of Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ferozepore, Patiala, Ropar, Nawan Shahr, Ludhiana and Bathinda. These schemes have an outlay of Rs 4.80 lakh per centre. This ambitious project would train girls in computers under the employment-cum-income generating unit schemes for women (NORAD). The objective of these schemes would be to train women in the non-traditional areas for ensured employment. The board had already undertaken an ambitious project to give pension to old and handicapped in this area. The social welfare board has various other schemes which include short-stay home projects. She said that helplines for women-in-distress were already working successfully. Adopting tsunami orphans She had asked the government to give the board the list of girls who could be accommodated in the short-stay homes of the board running successfully at Jalandhar and Amritsar. |
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Weekly Round-up
The second international children theatre festival of performing art would be organised by Ryan International School on February 4. Over 1000 children from India and other countries like Germany, Finland, Poland, Slovakia Republic would participate in the theatre festival. The three-day show would cover a variety of dances and skits, and the highlight of the festival would be the musical Life Hi To Hai directed by Utkarsh Marwah.
Dr A.F. Pinto of the school said that the international theatre festival would give the children the opportunity to discover new facets — both intellectual and cultural — of other countries, people and cultures, transcending their own boundaries. Inter-college IT Boom-2005
An inter-college computer competition — IT Boom-2005 - was held at the SGTB College for Women on January 29. Prof Darbari Lal, Deputy Speaker, Punjab Vidhan Sabha, inaugurated the competition. Eleven teams from various colleges of the state participated in the competition. There was tough competition in all events, including scrub your brain, bug: not a problem, test your skill, slide show and cultural show. While Sukhwinder and Bikramjit of GGS Khalsa College got the first position in scrub your brain event, Ritu and Ritika of the SGTB College for Women bagged the first prize in bug: not a problem event. Gaganpreet and Gurpreet of Tri Shatabdi GGS Khalsa College, Amritsar, and Abhya of DAV College secured the first positions in test your skill and slide show events, respectively. BUC College, Batala, got the first prize in cultural activities. Prof Darbari Lal also donated Rs 1 lakh from his discretionary funds for computers, while Mr O.P. Soni, MLA, presided over the function and gave away the prizes. On-the-spot painting competition
The Aalmi Punjabi Virasat Foundation organised an on-the-spot painting competition on January 29. The competition was dedicated to the International Mother Tongue Day, being held on February 5 at the local Art Gallery. Students from various schools participated in the competition. Annual function of school
Annual function of Madhav Vidya Niketan Public School was organised on January 25. The school is being run by the Sarvhitkari Shiksha Samiti. Students presented the cultural programme. Ms Shelly Sharma, Principal of the school, read the annual report. Mr Navjot Singh Sidhu, Member of Parliament, gave away prizes to meritorious students. In his address, he exhorted the students to work hard. Banker-customer relationship camp
Punjab National Bank organised a week-long yoga camp for bankers and customers of their banks under the programme — Banker-Customer Relationship Yoga Camp. Chief Manager, Mr Ajit Jaitley, Lawrence Road Branch, said that the basic aim to organise the camp was to inculcate the sense of discipline and to start the day with physical exercise to brave this chilly weather. The camp was held from January 24 to January 30 at Sant Singh Sukh Singh Higher Secondary School, Amritsar. Mr Jaitely said that bank employees participating in the camp were also spreading the message of yoga among their customers by organising banker-customer relationship meets. He said people from different walks of life were learning the ancient art of yoga under this programme. |
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Assamese folk dance workshop concludes
An eight-member group of Assamese folk dance conducted a week-long folk dance workshop at DAV Public School here. Principal, Ms V. Puri, said that the amateur group gave to students lessons in popular Bihu dance, which is performed during harvesting season coinciding with the Baisakhi festival of Punjab.
She said she was interested in creating awareness about folk dances of the north-east under cultural exchange programme. Appreciating the efforts of the manager of the Hokonguri Tea Estate, and Mr Sudeep Kumar, she said it was imperative for students to know about the culture of the other states of India. Interestingly, the team members had, so far, not performed together on one stage. The school provided them a platform to showcase their brilliant musical dance with their traditional musical instruments dhol, pepa (instrument made from horns of buffaloes). During the week-long workshop, the group trained 70 students of the school to present bihu dance during the Republic Day parade. The youngest dancer of the group — Barsha Borgohain - a class VI student, was accompanied by other dancers - Arundhuti Lahon and Sumi Gogoi. The other members included Maju Bora, Satya Gohain, Chinmoy Saikia and Haider Ali. The workshop was sponsored by DAV Public School. Ms Puri said they planned to organise similar exchange programmes with other north-eastern states and make these programmes annual feature.
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The most memorable event in the life of Mr Dang is the Naval Mutiny, a year before the Independence of the country. He took actively supported the cause of mutineers.